TV Ratings: NBA Finals Continue to Rise From 2016, Game 3 Up in Key Measures

The NBA Finals Game 3 continued the 2017 series’ winning streak in the ratings over 2016, with Wednesday’s game up in both key ratings measures compared to the same game last year.

Wednesday’s game on ABC drew a 5.9 rating in adults 18-49 and 16 million viewers, according to early Nielsen data. However, due to the nature of live sports, those numbers will more than likely adjust up later today. 2016’s Game 3 initially drew a 5.2 rating and 13.7 million viewers. It eventually adjusted up to a 6.1 rating and 16.5 million viewers. Wednesday’s Game 3 was also up from Sunday’s Game 2, which initially drew a 5.7 and 15.5 million viewers, and later adjusted up to a 7.1 and 19.7 million viewers. Through three games, the 2017 NBA Finals are averaging a 12.8 metered market rating, up 4% from a 12.3 in 2016.

On NBC, “Little Big Shots” (1.1, 6.9 million) at 8 p.m. was even with last week. A new episode of “The Carmichael Show” (0.7, 3.8 million) at 9 p.m. was even in the demo but ticked up in total viewers.

Fox aired a new episode of “MasterChef” (0.9, 3.1 million) at 8 p.m., which dropped in both measures from last week’s season premiere. Fellow Gordon Ramsay series “The F Word” (0.8, 2.4 million) was also down in both measures, airing directly against the NBA Finals.

CBS and The CW aired only repeats.

ABC won the night handily with a 4.9 rating and 13.8 million viewers overall. Fox finished second in the demo with a 0.8 but fourth in total viewers with 2.8 million. NBC finished third overall with a 0.7 and 3.9 million viewers. CBS finished fourth in the demo with a 0.6 but second in total viewers with 4.7 million.